Don Draper vs Jim Halpert

So in light of Don Draper topping the poll of AskMen.com 49 most influential men of 2009 I stumbled upon a Newsweek blog from August entitled 'Why the Ladies Love Jon Hamm of Mad Men' which upon reading raised an interesting topic that woman would rather fantasise about Don Draper from Mad Men than Jim Halpert from The Office. The article states that:

"Why are we so wild for Draper? By any measure, the character's a cad. He constantly cheats on his wife. He skips town for weeks and won't write or call. [...]  And yet he excites an attraction among women—particularly ones my age, women in their late '20s and '30s who were born after the era that Mad Men portrays—that seems unmatched by any leading man on television today, with the possible exception of Lost's con artist, Saywer (another strapping scoundrel with a deeply troubled soul)."


And:


"After all, we don't believe in that evolutionary "me Tarzan, you Jane" nonsense anymore. We're supposed to want men who are sensitive and respectful; men who emote and help around the house, and talk openly about their feelings. And we do want these things. Don't we? So then why are we fantasizing about Draper rather than Jim from The Office?"





So where do I stand on these thoughts and why should they matter any way. Well firstly, yes Don Draper is a desirable character despite all of his many flaws, which is why it does matter that women are attracted to him in spite of these flaws and why it matters that he has been voted by men as the most influential man of 2009.  Does this in turn make the actions and behaviour of Don Draper considered acceptable by both men and women? I think the majority would still say what he does is deplorable and he is just a figure of fantasy, he is the kind of man that you would have an affair with rather than a relationship (the Newsweek article concludes with this summation as well "So we lay it out very clearly: we don't want to wed Don Draper. We know madness that way lies."). They also lay this out so men don't think that that is what women actually want, who wants a generation of men who think that it is ok to cheat your way through everything. 
So then comes the point as to why Jim from The Office would not be considered a figure of fantasy because he is what is considered to be an ideal modern man, someone who cares about his fiance (wife by tonight- hopefully) and is not ashamed to show these feelings, but this is one area of the article that I disagree with and it might be because in most TV shows it is always the slightly dorky characters that are my favourites, not the leading brooding man. Characters like Charlie in Lost, Dr Reid in Criminal Minds, I prefer Sylar when he is Gabriel glasses included, Will Tippin in Alias, Hodgins in Bones, Greg in CSI, I even have a weird thing for Andy 'the 'Nard Dog' in The Office and don't even get me started on Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert. Now I know that these guys could be considered good looking in one manner or another but they are on programmes generally where there is an alpha male, who broods and gets the girl. So it would seem that I would definitely choose Jim over Don. Oh and in the debate of which Chuck I would choose between Chuck Bartowski (Chuck) and Chuck Bass (Gossip Girl) it would be Bartowski every time.
Even with Mad Men, I think Don Draper is great (but terrible at the same time) but I am actually a huge Pete Campbell fan (though not in the same way I think of Don), I just find his character so compelling because most of the time he can be a major douchebag but also because there is the conflicted side of him where he just doesn't know who he and how he should act. Although after last weeks episode I hope that we see some positive action from him, as he stepped way beyond the line of what is morally acceptable, but such is the power of the writing in Mad Men that there are no black and white characters.
At first when reading the article I was thinking 'Of course I would choose Jim over Don' but after writing this and thinking about it my answer becomes less certain, I know which one I would want a relationship with, that's easy but who would I choose (and the feminist in me is not happy that I am even asking that question)? 

TV Show Music

    I like soundtracks, for both film and TV, which I think stems from my love of making mix tapes/CDs, but I often find it frustrating when you are watching something and a song sounds great but you just don’t know who it is. In the past it would quite often take me a while to find out who it was, usually by searching online. However, a couple of days ago when searching for songs that I had heard on Friday Night Lights I discovered a superb website called TV Show Music. It has both past and present shows on there, including The OC, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Gossip Girl, Friday Night Lights and even reality shows such as The Hills, as well as many others. The aspect of this site that I really liked was that it not only has track listings for episodes but also what scene the song is played in, as well as links to where you can download the tracks and a player to hear the track (the downfall of this feature is that it is for US only users).

    So now that I have finally found a site that will help me find the tracks that I hear and love on TV, I wanted to write a little on the shows that have featured great music that has expanded my CD collection a little more and why certain shows have soundtracks that enhance the viewing pleasure. First off I need to unburden myself with the potential original source for my love of TV soundtracks which comes I think from Dawson’s Creek (and yes I owned both CDs), the teen drama is a usual source of new music and as I will review is a trend that is prevalent today;

 

The OC/Gossip Girl: Josh Schwartz has made it his ‘thing’ it would seem to associate his programming with new and exciting music. This works on several levels, it means that his shows that are about young and trendy teenagers also have external elements that feature this criteria but it also allows outside product synergy that, from a commercial aspect benefits both the shows and the bands on the CDs. Once again I own both shows albums, and both have led me to new bands, although I must admit I got a band opinion of Phantom Planet from the OC theme song, as it is a song I don’t really like, however after hearing other Phantom Planet tracks on Gossip Girl (primarily Raise the Dead in ‘The Serena Also Rises’) I have fallen in love with their music.

 

Chuck: Yes another Josh Schwartz show but one that doesn’t necessarily use music as a promotional aspect of the programme, primarily because it is a different age range of characters and the setting is not focused on the lifestyles of the rich. However out of the three Schwartz helmed shows it is Chuck that has me often looking up the artists who feature in the songs that are played. It also blends music that is both current and other songs that deserve their place in pop culture history (‘Hip to be Square’, ‘Once in a Lifetime’ and the songs performed by Jeffster: ‘Africa’ and ‘Mr Roboto’). Also Bon Iver has been used beautifully in several episodes in season 2 that made me fall in love again with ‘For Emma, Forever Ago’. Chuck also introduced to The Thermals who I think are awesome.

 

Friday Night Lights: Just to reiterate it is FNL that led me to find TVshowmusic.com, and I must say that the range of tracks that this programme uses is both impressive and important in creating the world of Dillon, Texas. The music of Explosions in the Sky is perhaps the key to this example as they have been used throughout the three seasons of the show and it personifies the feelings of the town through the beautiful and hopeful instrumental music. The other music that is used throughout is contemporary, and it ranges from acoustic guitar music to more hip hop related songs. As it is set in a small town in Texas there has also been some more traditional county music performance particularly at the wedding at the end of season 3 which demonstrates why this show has been hailed for its realism, by using real Texan performers in a real Texan setting.

 

Alias/ Lost/ Fringe: Most of the music in these three JJ Abrams associated shows is by composer Michael Giacchino, who creates music that fits so perfectly with the tone of these shows. It is rare for a television show to be scored by a live orchestra but Giacchino does just this and it is this quality that makes his music an important feature of these shows. With Lost he says that he won’t read the scripts, he just reacts musically to what it happening on screen and it is this organic work method that I think makes the music in Lost the dramatic and often tense sounding what it is. That he also used parts of the plane that was used in the pilot episode as percussion instruments also shows how the music is a part of the show.

 

TV updates

So a few days after writing my piece on Fringe one of the cast members has been fired according to his facebook page. The cast member in question is Kirk Acevedo who plays Special Agent Charlie Francis, who I really liked in this role and thought he had good chemistry with Anna Torv. All other parties have declined to comment so far but there is a casting call out for a female FBI agent, who I would assume would be taking his place. Hopefully an explanation will be given and there will be a decent reason as to why his character will be leaving the Fringe team.

    Other TV updates include the end of American Idol, I didn’t really watch it this year after being hooked for the first time last season but I was definitely surprised to see that Adam Lambert didn’t win considering how much exposure he has been getting (even getting his own Entertainment Weekly cover story).

    I have also finally started to watch the American Office and have now almost finished season 3. I’m thoroughly enjoying it and will write a longer post on it when I have finished season 3. Really love the random pop culture references especially from Dwight, one of my favourite so far being his Alias reference (season 3 episode 14):

“Jim: Have you ever seen a stripper before?

Dwight: Yes, Jennifer Garner portrayed one on Alias. It was one of her many aliases.”

    I am also awaiting the delivery of Friday Night Lights season 3 on DVD which came out this week, really looking forward to watching some more Panther action.

Character resurrection

So to tie loosely into the Easter weekend I have decided to look at 5 shows that have characters that have been resurrected. Also, a warning that there will be spoilers within for Lost, Alias, 24, Heroes and Buffy the Vampire Slayer, so you have been warned:

 

1. Buffy Summers (Buffy the Vampire Slayer): this girl has died several times, ranging from a few minutes to several months. When she first dies this brings about the calling of another slayer, which first gave us the somewhat annoying Kendra and then the super Faith so it isn’t all bad when your main character dies for a few minutes. However she will let you know through song how unhappy she was about being dragged out of ‘heaven’ when she died for real and had to climb out of her own grave. As Buffy is a show about demons and the undead there are many others that have been resurrected but none so spectacularly than Buffy herself.
2. Jack Bauer (24): Jack has technically died more times than I can remember from the time they faked his death at the end of season 4 to the countless other times that he has been tortured to death with his torturer having to resurrect him. Although the case of Tony Almeida returning this season after ‘dieing’ in season 5 is a little more unexpected, it seems a little ridiculous but even though 24 is a show that is meant to be close to reality it is expected that there will be some crazy plot twists like this one. I’m not sure how much I buy it but then again I have only seen the very start of this season so I need to watch the rest before I can properly judge this plot point.
3. Michael Vaughn (Alias): In the opening episode of season 5, Vaughn was gunned down in front of his pregnant fiancé, super spy Sydney Bristow. He wasn’t shot once but suffered a hail of bullets to the chest. Vaughn died, there was a funereal and Sydney mourned the father of her unborn child. Now this being Alias I was always a little suspicious of whether he was dead as they had a habit of ‘killing’ people and then bring them back due to the ‘doubling’ technology that existed in the world of the show. These suspicions proved to be correct when Vaughn returned soon after the birth of his daughter and the whole thing had been an elaborate ruse that Sydney and her father had been part of. This made fans very happy as there had been an internet campaign to save Vaughn after rumours starting flying that he was being ousted due to personal issues.
4. Everyone in Heroes: It would seem at one time or another that everyone in Heroes has either died or come very close to death. Obviously Claire has the ability to die and come back so it is never a surprise with her, the same can be said about Peter and Sylar who have both at points had her power. The surprise moments in Heroes are when characters are not resurrected rather than when they are. The most surprising was in season 2 when Adam Munroe who also had the power of regeneration had his power stolen by Arthur Petrelli thus killing him, I kept expecting him to come back but unfortunately this was a point when Heroes surprised me. It is hard to trust a show that often resurrects its characters; this is definitely an issue I have with this show especially when with the powers they have so many of them seem invincible. Alternatively, they will resurrect someone through the soap opera classic of another sibling, in the case of Heroes: the Ali Larter triplets, the third of which we are sure to see before the season is out.
5. John Locke (Lost): At the end of last season we learnt that it was Locke who was dead in the coffin but in true Lost style all was not as it seemed. We saw this season that it was Ben who killed Locke, staging it as suicide and stressed the importance to Jack that Locke must accompany them on the plane back to the island. On return to the island Locke is no longer in the coffin and appears to be living and breathing. This weeks episode appears to have a resurrection theme or the reverse as the title ‘Dead is Dead’ appears to suggest, nicely timed for Easter. Lost as we know has a habit of also having the dead appear to the living and it is still unclear as to the living status of characters such as Christian Shephard and Claire. A key theme in Lost is about resurrection and resolution; this is best highlighted by Charlie who was resurrected from death in season 1 and then sacrificed himself in season 3.

 

So there are my suggestions for the shows with the best resurrection plots, I’m sure I’ve missed some so if any one has any other suggestions feel free to add them in the comments below.